The need is great...

On Monday morning, Sarah and I went for a jog and then stopped to see the sunrise and spent some time in prayer together.

We had our team meeting over breakfast. It was good to all be together again.  We are enjoying learning to know each other better and sharing our personal testimonies. We have definitely become a close knit family.

After breakfast, me, Perry, Kevin and Eric visited Hope for Art Project, another ministry serving POCs in the area. They offer a space for POCs to come to paint, crochet, and relax. They \also have a clothing distribution, barber shop, woman's salon and woman's gym. It is really a beautiful and peaceful respite for POCs to go.  I had hopes that maybe they would need some volunteers, but it is all run by POCs. This is also a beautiful thing.

 

 

We were happy to visit for a bit. Perry (the artist) was in his glory. We had some great conversations with some of the POC artists. The paintings are available to purchase. I saw one of a butterfly, painted by Abdallah. He shared how the painting represented freedom. I planned to purchase it, and then a team member took it from my hands to purchase for me. What a gift to be blessed with.

We worked the evening shift - 4-12.  Our shifts have not always been so busy. As you can imagine, that is a struggle for us as westerners. We are trying to embrace the opportunities we are given and look for ways to minister and share with the POCs as we can.

I worked in new arrivals again. The first task for me was to pack 300+ meals for the minor boys, single women and single women with children. Each bag contained 2 pieces of bread, 2 tomatoes, 2 spinach rolls and 2 hard boiled eggs. There had been 600 meals ordered, but not everyone came. So there was so much leftover food. We are not to give out extra food (this could cause a mob or riots). So, instead, we put a few boxes of food out at a time, inside the caged-in area outside of new arrivals. We stacked them high enough so that POCs could reach the items through a small hole cut in the gate. I kept stacking leftovers out there, each time everything was gone within 5 minutes. It felt so wrong to have to have them reach through a cage to get food.

Then I packed new arrival bags like the other night.

This shift was a hard one. Really struggling with the sadness and heaviness of it all. I understand (I think) why things have to be done the way they are at camp (for protection against riots, mobs, etc., due to the amount of people there), but all of it seems so, almost inhumane. When the bags of clothing (new arrival stuff) or food are handed out, it is done so quickly, without much conversation or smile. A door is opened, something is handed out, and the door is closed again so quickly.

Wouldn't Jesus visit with them more? Would Jesus be concerned about the window of time for food delivery?

After helping with the new arrivals, I joined the rest of our team in the women's section to help guard gates for the remainder of the night. While I was there, I was asked to sit inside a room where they were showing a movie for the women and children. My role...to be sure nobody took the laptop and projector. Yep. Really. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to watch a movie. It was "Mulan," always a good one to watch.

The rest of the team (Eric, Perry, Sarah and LH) worked on some housing tasks until 8:30 when gate guarding duty starts. Then, Eric and Perry were able to use their gifts again--Eric playing ball with the minor boys and Perry sketching and drawing with others. LH was able to have a few conversations in Arabic with some women. Sarah and I did not have many conversations with other women.

Pray for encouragement for the team. The heaviness of this is starting to set in with some of them more than others. It is really emotionally taxing on some. Pray the the girls on our team could come up with something creative to be able to do with the women at camp when we are guarding the gates (so we aren't just sitting there). If there would be a way we could draw in some conversations, we would love that. Pray for creative ideas for us.

Later this morning (Tuesday) I'll be visiting another ministry in the area. Please pray for me to have a clear mind to understand the vision and mission of the organization. Continue to pray for discernment and wisdom as I continue to gather information to take back to the office in the US.

Thanks for your prayers. We feel them. We are also soaking up much beauty in the midst of this sadness. That also creates many emotions--just the vast difference of the two "worlds" we are living in here.